Players in young families are all different, but they are also all in the same place. That's why local multiplayer games with different roles of varying difficulty work so well. However, get the balance wrong and young players will soon lose interest.

When my kids were younger, I often tried to get them playing Super Mario Galaxy with the second player assistance mode. They could collect starts using just the Wii Remote and fire them at enemies. This was a nice touch but they soon realised they were basically along for the ride—this was just busy work.

When they were older we had more success with Driver: San Francisco. One player took control of the vehicle while the other could use the Wii Remote to shoot out the window. A third player could also download the game to the DS and set-up roadblocks using a map. It was agreat feature that was rarely mentioned in reviews at the time.

Since then there have been other multiplayer high points, and on the Wii U this has blossomed into a must-have essential feature rather than a novelty extra. Even with this in mind we've been blown away with how well this works in the recently-released Affordable Space Adventures.

In terms of multiplayer there are three roles: the Pilot, the Engineer and the Science Officer. As the pilot you control the direction of the ship, while the engineer controls the engines and other systems. The Science Officer is in charge of the scanner, which can be pointed outside the ship to help you analyse your environment.

The balance between them and development of each role is what makes this set-up work so well. You are granted just a few controls to begin with but as you progress more are added. With each new ability the need to communicate and co-operate with the other crew members increases.

Because the roles are distinct, I also found that different aged children in the family could take part in the action. Because the engineer duties are not as time sensitive as pilot or science officer, younger players can take their time to adjust the settings and get a bit of help when they need it.

The science officer and pilot both need to work closely together to ensure that visibility and motion are in the same direction. Putting my two boys on these tasks to begin with caused no end of arguments, but over time they realised that talking (and listening) to each other was the only way to progress—a minor miracle!

In fact, the most exciting part of the action was often happening in the room between players rather than on the screen. Don't get me wrong, the visuals and sound of the game are excellent and create a tense, eerie feel a lot like Limbo — but with less dismemberment, happily.

Watching the family play really did feel like they were commanding their own space ship—and of course brought back memories of watching episodes of Star Trek as kid myself. While there may have been a bit more shouting than on the bridge of the Enterprise, there was also a lot more fun.

Affordable Space Adventures uses the Wii U controls perfectly. It's a hidden gem in the world of local multiplayer games and has made my family eager for more. Perhaps you have some hidden gems of your own you could suggest? Let us know by posting a comment.

Playing games with young children tend to become a lot about their fun and not so much about your own. Playing Mario cart on 50cc versusmode against easy cpu is not my idea of great gaming. Co-op is usually a better solution.I have been playing this with my 4 year old and it has been the best co-op gaming fun we have had.We have also had a lot of co-op fun with super mario 3d word and the pikmin minigame from nintendoland.

@pleonexia Same here (well, aside from ASA, still on our to-buy list), SM3D and Nintendoland are a top priority for our family co-op time (Pikmin and Zelda the favourite). Since we bought Kirby Adventure Wii, that one seems to get our kids approval too, for multiplayer.

Being able to play this with my kid is one of the things that further drew me to it. I play a lot of games with my son, and we're currently focusing on Dead Nation Apocalypse and Helldivers on the PS4--both a form of top-down twin-stick shooter. Previously, I've played through two Rayman games (Origins and Legends), Ratchet & Clank: All4One (would really like another like this), and two EDF games with him. We're always interested in some more co-op fun. Too bad Splatoon decided against that.

So I love funny/fun co op games, and this sounds like it could be pretty good, but would it appeal to an older crowd? Like, all the comments I see are people talking about playing it with their kids,which is cool and all, but it makes it seem like it might be a bit more simple than I had hoped.

Yes this game is great for that. For myself and my 2 kids Rayman Legends was off the charts great. My older can do the platforming, she's not great at it, but when she dies she just comes back and I pop her bubble. Then my younger son would grab the gamepad and control Murphy and it was genuinely fun for him. My only regret is that it didn't sell well enough for Ubisoft to make another one.

Kirby's Epic Yarn is still a good co-op game that isn't much of you buy renowned. The level design is really good and the lack of lives means the worst that can happen is that the two of you get a low score on a level.

There is a 6 year gap between myself and my sister. Co-op video games have always been a way for the two of us to spend time together, so they are important to me.

Trust me, this game is worth every penny! It's really not expensive when you realize (after playing it) what an amazing and unique journey this is that you're sharing with two (or sometimes even more) other people.I've already played ASA with three different groups of friends and everytime it was the same: at first, it's really easy and underchallenging and everyone said something like "that's boring, I don't have anything to do" but soon enough it evolved into a lot of communication, wondering and the mutual feeling that we have to solve the current puzzle and have to get to the next level. Sometimes it can also be frustrating when someone in the crew doesn't do a good job (most of the time, the pilot and science officer complain about the engineer, who has the hardest job ^^), but that only increases the immersion and the feeling of playing in a team or a crew together on a little spaceship.

I never experienced something like this in any game before and I'm sure all the friends that played with me hadn't either. Even though some of them were experienced video game players and others weren't, the reactions were almost the same.